Method of making knitted undergarments.



R. R. JANES. METHOD OF MAKING KNITTED UNDERGARMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I. 1914.

' Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

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RALPH R. JANES, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YQEK, ASSIGNQE TO STANDARD KNITTINGMILLS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF MAKING. KNITTED UNDERGARll/IENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

Application filed. December 1, 1914. Serial No. 874,986.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that L-RALPH R. James, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York,have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Methods of MakingKnitted Undergarments, of which the following is a full, clear, andcomplete description.

My invention relates to knitted garments, and more especially to knittedundergarments, or garments of like nature, and has for its object theprovision of a method of making such garments which will be rapid andinexpensive and which will produce garments pleasing in appearance andcomfortable in use.

It is well known that knitted fabric stretches very much more easily inthe direction transverse to the ribbing than it does in the direction ofthe ribbing. In knitted undergarments of the simplest form, the ribbingruns in a generally vertical direction; and in the shoulder portionsruns from front to back, or substantially parallel with the sleeveopenings. There is, therefore, little resistance to the tendency of theshoulders of the garment to stretch in the direction transverse to thesleeve opening, and a result the seam at tne sleeve opening is apt tofall down onto the arm of the wearer. This causes discomfort and also,in efiect, increases the length of the sleeves. In order to avoid this.the common expedient is to insert along the top of the shoulder from theneck opening to the sleeve opening, a piece of fabric in which theribbing runs at right angles to the ribbing of the remainder of thebody'portion of the garment. Thus the ribbing runs in the direction ofthe tension along the top of the shoulder, and the stretching is,therefore, materially reduced. But this method has the disadvantage ofemploying an increased number of seams. thus increasing the labor andcost of manufacture, and detracting from the ap pearance and comfort ofthe garment.

By my improved method I eliminate the objectionable stretching along theshoulder and at the same time produce an attractive and entirelycomfortable garment in a very rapid and inexpensive manner, an importantfeature of my method being the reinforcement of the seam along the topof the shoulder from the neck opening to the sleeve opening with a tapeof non-elastic material.

In the drawing, Figure 1 illustrates the garment in the course ofmanufacture;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the completed garment;

Fig. 3 is a plan view thereof and Fig. l is a detail view showing themethod of reinforcing the shoulder seam of the garment.

The piece of knitted tube shown in Fig. 1 is cut to the desired lengthand at one of the upper corners a segmental piece of material is cut outat 2, 3, to form the neck opening of the garment. The tube is'then slitat 3, 4, to provide the usual breast opening and is cut through at 5, 6,to form the sleeve openings. When the tube is now reversed, as shown inFig. :2, it is provided with the neck opening 2, 3, 2, the breastopening 3, 4, and the sleeve openings 5, 6, and all that is necessary tocomplete it is to sew on the sleeves 7, 7, sew the shoulder seams 2, 5,and 2, 5, and add the desired trimmings, buttons, etc.

If the shoulder scams 2, 5 and 2, 5 were sewed in the ordinary way,there would occur the objectionable stretching above referred to, due tothe fact that the direction of the ribbing at this point is transverseto the direction of the tension applied. But I have found that thisstretching can be eliminated by reinforcing the shoulder seams 2, 5 witha tape of inelastic material. These seams are sewed by a multiple needlesewing machine the lines of stitches being inclicated at 8, 9 and 10Fig. 4:, and as they are being sewed the tape is run in, and is thuspenetrated, sewed down and over-lapped or covered by the stitching ofthe seam as indicated in Fig. 4. A suitable guide for the tape may beattached to the throat plate, presser foot, or any other suitable partof the machine. This produces a seam which is substantially non-elasticand at the same time attractive in appearance and comfortable to thewearer. This seam also adds strength to the garment and thus causes itto wear longer than it otherwise would.

The advantages of my improved method are evident. In the first place,the objectionable stretching of the shoulders is entirely eliminated. Inthe second'place, the step of cutting the neck, breast and sleeveopenings isa very simple and inexpensive one, since it can be done by amachine in a single operation. Those methods which in-- elude theinsertion of an extra piece of fabric along the top of the shouldergenerally require some hand cutting which, of course, is slow andexpensive. Also, the sewing which is required to complete my garment isreduced to a minimum, no extra time being required to reinforce theshoulder seams. In other methods which seek to accomplish the resultsaccomplished by me, there is at least one additional seam on eachshoulder, requiring additional sewing and, consequently, additionalexpense. Also, the elimination by me of all extra and unnecessary seamsmakes the garment much more comfortable.

"I do not wish to limit myself to the particular method of reinforcingthe shoulder seams above described, nor do I wish to limit the use ofthe reinforced seam to any particular form of garment nor to anyparticular location in agarment, for obviously many different methods ofreinforcing seams and many different uses for such Copies of this patentmaybe obtained for seams may be devised by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

The method of making a garment which consists in cutting a tube ofknitted material to the desired length, cutting a segmental piece fromone of the upper corners of the tube to form a neck opening, cutting aslit downwardly from the lower point of said opening to form the chestopening, cut

ting a slit extending downwardly from sub-.

stantially the center of the top edge of the tube to form sleeveopenings all in one operation; then, reversing the tube, and sewingtogether the upper, front and back edges of the tube between the neckopening and the sleeve openings, and at the same operation sewing to theseams so formed a reinforcing tape of non-elastic material, bypenetrating and overlapping said tape by the same stitches which formthe seams.

RALPH R. JANES.

Witnesses:

WALTER S. JONES, WM. M. EARL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

